1988 Oakland Athletics season

The Oakland Athletics' 1988 season involved the A's winning their first American League West title since 1981, with a record of 104 wins and 58 losses (the best record in the La Russa era). In 1988, the elephant was restored as the symbol of the Athletics and currently adorns the left sleeve of home and road uniforms. The elephant was retired as team mascot in 1963 by then-owner Charles O. Finley in favor of a Missouri mule. The A's defeated the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, but lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, including a dramatic, classic walk-off home run by the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson in game one.

1988 Oakland Athletics
American League Champions
American League West Champions
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkOakland–Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record104–58 (.642)
Divisional place1st
OwnersWalter A. Haas Jr.
General managersSandy Alderson
ManagersTony La Russa
TelevisionKPIX/KICU-TV
(Monte Moore, Ray Fosse)
RadioKSFO
(Bill King, Lon Simmons, Ray Fosse)
KNTA
(Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, Evilio Mendoza)
← 1987 Seasons 1989 →

1988 was the first of three straight years the A's would represent the AL in the World Series.

Offseason

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Regular season

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José Canseco led the American League with 42 home runs, 124 RBIs and a .569 slugging percentage. Canseco became the first member of the Athletics to have three straight 100 RBI seasons. He also had 40 stolen bases and became the first major leaguer ever to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.

  • July 3, 1988: José Canseco had 3 home runs and 6 RBIs in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 104 58 .642 54‍–‍27 50‍–‍31
Minnesota Twins 91 71 .562 13 47‍–‍34 44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals 84 77 .522 19½ 44‍–‍36 40‍–‍41
California Angels 75 87 .463 29 35‍–‍46 40‍–‍41
Chicago White Sox 71 90 .441 32½ 40‍–‍41 31‍–‍49
Texas Rangers 70 91 .435 33½ 38‍–‍43 32‍–‍48
Seattle Mariners 68 93 .422 35½ 37‍–‍44 31‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 4–9 5–7 4–7 4–9 5–8 0–12 4–9 3–9 3–10 4–8 7–5 6–6 5–8
Boston 9–4 8–4 7–5 8–5 6–7 6–6 10–3 7–5 9–4 3–9 6–6 8–4 2–11
California 7–5 4–8 9–4 8–4 5–7 5–8 3–9 4–9 6–6 4–9 6–7 8–5 6–6
Chicago 7–4 5–7 4–9 3–9 3–9 7–6 6–6 4–9 3–9 5–8 9–4 8–5 7–5
Cleveland 9–4 5–8 4–8 9–3 4–9 6–6 9–4 5–7 6–7 4–8 5–7 6–6 6–7
Detroit 8–5 7–6 7–5 9–3 9–4 8–4 5–8 1–11 8–5 4–8 9–3 8–4 5–8
Kansas City 12–0 6–6 8–5 6–7 6–6 4–8 3–9 7–6 6–6 8–5 7–5 7–6 4–8
Milwaukee 9–4 3–10 9–3 6–6 4–9 8–5 9–3 7–5 6–7 3–9 8–4 8–4 7–6
Minnesota 9–3 5–7 9–4 9–4 7–5 11–1 6–7 5–7 3–9 5–8 8–5 7–6 7–5
New York 10–3 4–9 6–6 9–3 7–6 5–8 6–6 7–6 9–3 6–6 5–7 5–6 6–7
Oakland 8–4 9–3 9–4 8–5 8–4 8–4 5–8 9–3 8–5 6–6 9–4 8–5 9–3
Seattle 5–7 6–6 7–6 4–9 7–5 3–9 5–7 4–8 5–8 7–5 4–9 6–7 5–7
Texas 6–6 4–8 5–8 5–8 6–6 4–8 6–7 4–8 6–7 6–5 5–8 7–6 6–6
Toronto 8–5 11–2 6–6 5–7 7–6 8–5 8–4 6–7 5–7 7–6 3–9 7–5 6–6


Notable Transactions

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Roster

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1988 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Game log

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Regular season Game log

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1988 regular season game log: 104–58 (Home: 54–27; Away: 50–31)
April: 16–7 (Home: 5–4; Away: 11–3)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
1 April 4 Mariners
2 April 5 Mariners
3 April 6 Mariners
4 April 8 @ Angels
5 April 9 @ Angels
6 April 10 @ Angels
7 April 12 @ Mariners
8 April 13 @ Mariners
9 April 14 @ Mariners
10 April 15 White Sox
11 April 16 White Sox
12 April 17 White Sox
13 April 18 Angels
14 April 19 Angels
15 April 20 Angels
16 April 21 @ White Sox
17 April 22 @ White Sox
18 April 23 @ White Sox
19 April 24 @ White Sox
20 April 26 @ Blue Jays
21 April 27 @ Blue Jays
22 April 28 @ Blue Jays
April 29 @ Indians Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: July 5)
23 April 30 @ Indians
May: 19–8 (Home: 11–4; Away: 8–4)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
24 May 1 @ Indians
25 May 2 @ Tigers
26 May 3 @ Tigers
27 May 4 Blue Jays
28 May 5 Blue Jays
May 6 Indians Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: July 19)
29 May 7 Indians
30 May 8 Indians
31 May 9 Tigers
32 May 10 Tigers
33 May 11 Tigers
34 May 13 @ Orioles
35 May 14 @ Orioles
36 May 15 @ Orioles
37 May 16 @ Red Sox
38 May 17 @ Red Sox
39 May 18 @ Red Sox
40 May 20 @ Yankees
41 May 21 @ Yankees
42 May 22 @ Yankees
43 May 23 Orioles
44 May 24 Orioles
45 May 25 Orioles
46 May 27 Red Sox
47 May 28 Red Sox
48 May 29 Red Sox
49 May 30 Yankees
50 May 31 Yankees
June: 13–14 (Home: 6–8; Away: 7–6)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
51 June 1 Yankees
52 June 3 @ Twins
53 June 4 @ Twins
54 June 5 @ Twins
55 June 6 @ Royals
56 June 7 @ Royals
57 June 8 @ Royals
58 June 9 @ Rangers
59 June 10 @ Rangers
60 June 11 @ Rangers
61 June 12 @ Rangers
62 June 14 Royals
63 June 15 Royals
64 June 16 Royals
65 June 17 Rangers
66 June 18 Rangers
67 June 19 Rangers
68 June 20 @ Brewers
69 June 21 @ Brewers
70 June 22 @ Brewers
71 June 24 Twins
72 June 25 Twins
73 June 26 Twins
74 June 26 Twins
75 June 27 Brewers
76 June 28 Brewers
77 June 29 Brewers
July: 16–12 (Home: 7–4; Away: 9–8)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
78 July 1 @ Blue Jays
79 July 2 @ Blue Jays
80 July 3 @ Blue Jays
81 July 4 @ Indians
82 July 5 @ Indians
83 July 5 @ Indians
84 July 6 @ Indians
85 July 7 @ Tigers
86 July 8 @ Tigers
87 July 9 @ Tigers
88 July 10 @ Tigers
59th All-Star Game in Cincinnati, OH
89 July 14 Blue Jays
90 July 15 Blue Jays
91 July 16 Blue Jays
92 July 17 Blue Jays
93 July 18 Indians
94 July 19 Indians
95 July 19 Indians
96 July 20 Indians
97 July 22 Tigers
98 July 23 Tigers
99 July 24 Tigers
100 July 25 @ Angels
101 July 26 @ Angels
102 July 27 @ Angels
103 July 29 @ Mariners
104 July 30 @ Mariners
105 July 31 @ Mariners
August: 20–9 (Home: 14–3; Away: 6–6)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
106 August 1 @ White Sox
107 August 2 @ White Sox
108 August 3 @ White Sox
109 August 4 Mariners
110 August 5 Mariners
111 August 6 Mariners
112 August 7 Mariners
113 August 8 White Sox
114 August 9 White Sox
115 August 10 White Sox
116 August 11 Angels
117 August 12 Angels
118 August 13 Angels
119 August 14 Angels
120 August 16 @ Orioles
121 August 17 @ Orioles
122 August 18 @ Orioles
123 August 19 @ Red Sox
124 August 20 @ Red Sox
125 August 21 @ Red Sox
126 August 22 @ Yankees
127 August 23 @ Yankees
128 August 24 @ Yankees
129 August 26 Orioles
130 August 27 Orioles
131 August 28 Orioles
132 August 29 Red Sox
133 August 30 Red Sox
134 August 31 Red Sox
September: 19–7 (Home: 10–3; Away: 9–4)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
135 September 2 Yankees
136 September 3 Yankees
137 September 4 Yankees
138 September 5 @ Rangers
139 September 6 @ Rangers
140 September 7 @ Rangers
141 September 8 @ Royals
142 September 9 @ Royals
143 September 10 @ Royals
144 September 11 @ Royals
145 September 13 Rangers
146 September 14 Rangers
147 September 15 Rangers
148 September 16 Royals
149 September 17 Royals
150 September 18 Royals
151 September 19 Twins
152 September 20 Twins
153 September 21 Twins
154 September 23 @ Brewers
155 September 24 @ Brewers
156 September 25 @ Brewers
157 September 27 @ Twins
158 September 28 @ Twins
159 September 29 @ Twins
160 September 30 Brewers
October: 1–1 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–0)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
161 October 1 Brewers
162 October 2 Brewers
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Athletics team member

Postseason Game log

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1988 Postseason game log: 5–4 (Home: 3–2; Away: 2–2)
AL Championship Series: vs. Boston Red Sox 4–0 (Home: 2–0; Away: 2–0)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Series Box/
Streak
1 October 5 @ Red Sox
2 October 6 @ Red Sox
3 October 8 Red Sox
4 October 9 Red Sox
World Series: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers 1–4 (Home: 1–2; Away: 0–2)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Series Box/
Streak
1 October 15 @ Dodgers
2 October 16 @ Dodgers
3 October 18 Dodgers
4 October 19 Dodgers
5 October 20 Dodgers
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Athletics team member

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
RF José Canseco 158 610 187 .307 42 124
CF Dave Henderson 146 507 154 .304 24 94
3B Carney Lansford 150 556 155 .279 7 57
1B Mark McGwire 155 550 143 .260 32 99
C Ron Hassey 107 323 83 .257 7 45
2B Glenn Hubbard 105 294 75 .255 3 33
SS Walt Weiss 147 452 113 .250 3 39
DH Don Baylor 92 264 58 .220 7 34
LF Luis Polonia 84 288 84 .292 2 27

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs, RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Stan Javier 125 397 102 .257 2 35
Dave Parker 101 377 97 .257 12 55
Terry Steinbach 104 351 93 .265 9 51
Mike Gallego 129 277 58 .209 2 20
Tony Phillips 79 212 43 .203 2 17
Doug Jennings 71 101 21 .208 1 15
Orlando Mercado 16 24 3 .125 1 1
Matt Sinatro 10 9 3 .333 0 5
Félix José 8 6 2 .333 0 1
Lance Blankenship 10 3 0 .000 0 0
Ed Jurak 3 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L ERA SO
Dave Stewart 37 37 275.2 21 12 3.23 192
Bob Welch 36 36 244.2 17 9 3.64 158
Storm Davis 33 33 201.2 16 7 3.70 127
Curt Young 26 26 156.1 11 8 4.14 69
Todd Burns 17 14 102.2 8 2 3.16 57
Steve Ontiveros 10 10 54.2 3 4 4.61 30
Rich Bordi 2 2 7.2 0 1 4.70 6

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Otto 3 10.0 0 0 1.80 7

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Dennis Eckersley 60 4 2 45 2.35 70
Greg Cadaret 58 5 2 3 2.89 64
Rick Honeycutt 55 3 2 7 3.50 47
Gene Nelson 54 9 6 3 3.06 67
Eric Plunk 49 7 2 5 3.00 79
Jim Corsi 11 0 1 0 3.80 10
Jeff Shaver 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

ALCS

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Game 1

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October 5, Fenway Park

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 0
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 0
W: Rick Honeycutt (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (1)
HR: OAKJosé Canseco (1)

Game 2

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October 6, Fenway Park

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 4 10 1
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 4 1
W: Gene Nelson (1-0)   L: Lee Smith (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (2)
HR: OAKJosé Canseco (2)   BOSRich Gedman (1)

Game 3

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October 8, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 12 0
Oakland 0 4 2 0 1 0 1 2 X 10 15 1
W: Gene Nelson (2-0)   L: Mike Boddicker (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (3)
HR: OAKMark McGwire (1)  Carney Lansford (1)  Ron Hassey (1)  Dave Henderson (1)  BOSMike Greenwell (1)

Game 4

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October 9, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0
Oakland 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 X 4 10 1
W: Dave Stewart (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-2)  S: Dennis Eckersley (4)
HR: OAKJosé Canseco (3)

World Series

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NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL Oakland Athletics (1)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 A's – 4, Dodgers – 5 October 15 Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) 55,983 3:04
2 A's – 0, Dodgers – 6 October 16 Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) 56,051 2:30
3 Dodgers – 1, A's – 2 October 18 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,316 3:21
4 Dodgers – 4, A's – 3 October 19 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,317 3:05
5 Dodgers – 5, A's – 2 October 20 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,317 2:51

Awards and honors

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All-Star Game

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Tacoma Tigers Pacific Coast League Brad Fischer
AA Huntsville Stars Southern League Tommie Reynolds
A Modesto A's California League Jeff Newman
A Madison Muskies Midwest League Jim Nettles
A-Short Season Southern Oregon A's Northwest League Lenn Sakata
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Dave Hudgens

References

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  1. ^ "Brian Harper Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  2. ^ "Jerry Willard Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  3. ^ "Ron Hassey Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  4. ^ "Gary Lavelle Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  5. ^ "Dave Parker Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  6. ^ "Jesse Orosco Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  7. ^ "Dave Henderson Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  8. ^ "Rick Rodriguez Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  9. ^ "Glenn Hubbard Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  10. ^ "Rich Bordi Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  11. ^ "Don Baylor Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "Tony Phillips Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  13. ^ "Mickey Tettleton Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  14. ^ "Darren Lewis Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.